Sharing the viral 'Goodbye Meta AI' post won't protect your data. Here's what to do instead

Hundreds of thousands of Instagram users have been misled by a viral fake post claiming that sharing it will prevent Meta from using their personal data, profile information, or photos to train artificial intelligence (AI).

The post, which has been found to be both incorrect and misleading, reads "Goodbye Meta AI," before falsely warning that anyone who doesn't repost it will automatically be giving Meta permission to use their data.

Several celebrities, including actors Julianne Moore, Sarah Paulson, James McAvoy, and former NFL player Tom Brady, have also fallen for the misleading claims.

Although users have posted it in an attempt to stop Meta from sharing their data, the statement has no legal effect on the company’s data policies.

This is an example of "copypasta," a term used to describe text that is copied and pasted repeatedly across the Internet, often spreading misinformation.

Fact-checkers have flagged these hoax messages as "false information" on both Facebook and Instagram due to their misleading claims.

"Posting the viral statement, or any other statement, doesn't mean that Meta will not use that data for AI training, but users in Europe can object via a form in their account settings," Lead Stories, a third-party fact-checking site working with Meta, stated in a blog post.

How Europeans could opt out of Meta's AI training

Meta has confirmed that the company uses public content from Facebook and Instagram, including photos and text, to train its generative AI models.

To prevent their data from being used for AI training, users could set their accounts to private. Meta has also clarified that private messages will not be used for AI training.

However, users in the European Union (EU) and the UK are protected by strict data protection laws and have been given a more direct way to opt out of data usage.

They could prevent Meta from using their information and content through the settings in their Facebook and Instagram accounts by filling out a form with their information and an explanation on how Meta’s data processing affects them.

Meta also said they have previously sent in-app notifications and emails to users in Europe, providing a link to the objection form.

"We are honouring all European objections. If an objection form is submitted before Llama training begins, then that person’s data won’t be used to train those models, either in the current training round or in the future," Meta said in a statement.